Hit Close to Home: When Something Lands Right Where You Live
Some things you hear and they stay outside of you. Others reach right in. ‘Hitting close to home’ is the expression for that second kind — when something resonates at a personal, often uncomfortable depth. This episode explores why that phrase matters and what it reveals about the places we protect most.
Resilient: You’ve Already Survived Everything That Tried to Stop You
Resilience is one of the most overused words of the last decade. In this episode, we strip it back to what it actually means, where it actually comes from, and why the most resilient people aren’t the ones who bounce back — but the ones who bounce forward.
A Sea Change: When Transformation Goes All the Way Down
Some changes are surface adjustments. A sea change is something else entirely — a transformation so deep and complete that what emerges is genuinely different from what went in. This episode explores one of Shakespeare’s most enduring gifts to the English language, and what it means for the changes that truly alter us.
Succession Planning Isn’t About Your Replacement — It’s About Whether Your Work Outlives You
Most organizations treat succession planning as a panic button pressed when someone quits. It’s actually the quiet discipline that decides whether everything you built survives the day you leave. Here’s how to do it right — and why almost everyone gets it wrong.
Steadfast: The Quiet Power of Not Moving
In a world that celebrates reinvention, pivoting, and change, steadfast is the word that makes the case for staying. For roots. For the person who doesn’t move when everything around them is telling them to.
Why Nuance Matters: Choosing Truth Over Viral Outrage
In an internet ecosystem fueled by outrage, polarization, and clickbait, why bother creating thoughtful content about the complex grey areas of life? Join the Editor-in-Chief of English Plus as we explore why nuance, critical thinking, and empathy are the ultimate acts of modern rebellion.
Follow Your True North: The Internal Compass That Never Lies
Before GPS, before satellites, navigators had to find true north — the fixed point that oriented everything else. The expression ‘true north’ has moved from navigation into something deeper: the idea that each of us has a fixed internal compass, a core direction, a most-authentic self. This episode explores what that means and how to find it.
Clear the Air: The Relief of Finally Saying the Thing
There’s a particular kind of tension that builds when something important is left unsaid. And there’s an equally particular relief when it finally gets said. ‘Clearing the air’ is one of the most honest and hopeful expressions in English — a phrase about the courage of direct conversation and what it restores.
Why Do Onions Make You Cry? The Chemistry of Your Kitchen’s Most Hostile Vegetable | Close Reading
Why do onion fumes make us cry? The answer involves volatile sulfur compounds, an enzyme, your eyes’ natural defense system, and a chemical called syn-propanethial-S-oxide — and it is more interesting than you’d expect.
Phantom Kangaroos: The Animals That Should Not Be Here | Close Reading
Phantom kangaroos — sightings of kangaroos and wallabies far outside their native range in Australia — have been reported across the United States, Europe, and beyond for over a century. Nobody has a satisfying explanation.
